Scenes from San Jose's Frontier Village, 1961-1980

Mercury News

Posted:
05/24/2012 02:18:25 PM PDT

Updated:
10/02/2013 01:41:16 PM PDT

From 1961 to 1980, San Jose's Frontier Village peddled its smaller, gentler version of the Disneyland spirit.

The brainchild of Joe Zukin, who was in the car wash business, it opened on 33 acres at Monterey Highway and Branham Lane. The man behind the design was Laurence Hollings, who had worked for Hollywood studios and the California Academy of sciences before moving on to amusement parks including Playland-at-the-Beach, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Happy Hollow.

His forte, he once told the Mercury News, was environments that delighted mothers and their children.

In a 1988 "Reflections" column, Merc reporter Bill Strobel described the appeal: "It was a place designed for families and -- more importantly -- for little kids. They could get hugged by Theodore Bear, catch a trout at Rainbow Falls (or) glide up a tree-shaded lagoon in a canoe paddled by Indian braves. Or they could just get lost in a wooded glade with their own fantasies."

For the dads, Hollings said, there was the saloon: "We set up a place with a lot of TV sets and we sold 'em beer."

A group of Frontier Village ex-employees and aficionados have a picnic every summer at Edenvale Garden Park, part of the old property. Their reminiscences can be found at www.frontiervillage.net.